There is oftentimes a need for apparatus to assist in removing small trees and bushes from areas where it is difficult to find a place for space-consuming and heavy pulling type devices, and where the trees and bushes are too large to be removed by hand alone or where extensive digging and root-cutting is required in order to free the tree or bush.
Inventors have in the past shown devices of various types that serve to provide additional force for removing small trees and bushes. U.S. Pat. No. 1,261,600 shows a fence post puller that uses a horizontal lever with a fulcrum attached to a ground support and has a short arm connected to a chain wrapped around the fence post for pulling up the post with leveraged force applied to the long arm. Said known device, however, has the disadvantage that it uses a horizontal space-consuming lever for which there is not always room if the tree to be pulled is located in a tight area, and has the further disadvantage that several heavy parts are required.
Other devices are known in the prior art which have the drawbacks of being either cumbersome to use and/or bulky and heavy to transport; being less mobile and more time consuming to set up, adjust and use; having a narrower range of leverages available and having a narrower range of adjustment; and not being readily able to "work" a plant, i.e. to change the amount of pressure of pull and to change the direction of the pull. At least one prior art device, Miller, Canadian Pat. No. 492,180, teaches that engagement with the item to be pulled is necessary at a plurality of locations.